Assessing quality of life in nurses with chronic low back pain working in educational hospitals in Tabriz, 2013

Low back pain is a common problem throughout the world and Iran. Nurses also due to their working conditions are considered among high-risk groups. If this situation be chronic، it can have a serious impact on their quality of life، result in low quality of work، reduce the time to do useful work and increase the number of days missed. The aim of this study was to assess quality of life of patients with low back pain. In this descriptive- analytic study، 250 nurses working in educational hospitals in Tabriz admited to participate in this research in 2013. Data were collected by a two-part cheklist containing demographic characters and Modified Oswestry Low Back Pain questionnaire. The quality of life of nurses suffering from chronic low back pain was determined. Of the total nurses participating in research، 65. 8% (n = 250) obtained inclusion criteria. There was impaired quality of life in patients with chronic low back pain in moderate level in most nurses (38/04%). 6/88% of nurses''impairments was very severe. There was the most disruption in patients with chronic low back pain in the social relations and the least was related to self-care. It was reported experienced pain severity in nurses moderate to severe. The high prevalence of low back pain in nurses affects their quality of life. So، holding training classes and providing an environment with minimal risk factors for low back pain in nurses'' work environments to reduce the individual، social and economic damage seems necessary.